let's start with the cons. this thing is big and heavy(25+ lbs.) it will take up a shelf by itself and needs breathing room for that tube that sticks out on top.
pros. detailed without being harsh, layers of detail in the midrange, which is on the warm side of neutral.
there is plenty of tight bass. the speed of the dac is fast.
here's the weird thing, you know how some equipment has the soundstage pushed forward toward you, this thing seems to instead pull you in your chair closer to it....strange.
i'm not using it in balance mode so i only had to upgrade two tubes and two caps which made the price $1362 going balanced will push the price up more.
the great thing about this dac is it's tube rollers dream and now you get to roll caps without having to solder. it woke my system up.

let's start with the cons. this thing is big and heavy(25+ lbs.) it will take up a shelf by itself and needs breathing room for that tube that sticks out on top.
pros. detailed without being harsh, layers of detail in the midrange, which is on the warm side of neutral.
there is plenty of tight bass. the speed of the dac is fast.
here's the weird thing, you know how some equipment has the soundstage pushed forward toward you, this thing seems to instead pull you in your chair closer to it....strange.
i'm not using it in balance mode so i only had to upgrade two tubes and two caps which made the price $1362 going balanced will push the price up more.
the great thing about this dac is it's tube rollers dream and now you get to roll caps without having to solder. it woke my system up.

Do you have to discharge the caps before swapping?

They are in the signal path, so no. You're thinking of power supply caps.

"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass

It is actually a well designed and built DAC. In stock form, I found the soundstage to be too diffuse and the tonal balance off. When I looked at operating bias and where the 6922's were operating on the tube curve, I could see that they were operating in a VERY non-linear region. Once this was resolved, alone, things got much better! I then added our own SSHVR (Solid Stage High Voltage Regulator) with MWI bypass and the B+ became VERY clean and VERY tight!

This translated to tighter and better defined bass and control across the frequency spectrum. The combination now, of proper operating bias, upgraded tube signal path resistors and regulated supply, gives the music a controlled but natural and organic flow.

I did compare it to an Oppo 205 and I was pleasantly surprised to find the sound with our mods to be on the same level as the modified 205. There are some tonal differences, but the level of sonic performance was right on par! Both mods use the 6922 tube and both are optimized for a similar operating point on the tube curve.

I am very pleased and excited with how this turned out! Please contact us if you are interested in learning more.